Thunder rumbles past Basehor, 8-0

St. James Academy boasts too much fire power for ‘Cats

Basehor-Linwood girls soccer coach Kevin Vincent addressed his team before its Class 5-1A regional second-round matchup Tuesday against St. James Academy by bringing up some giant sports upsets, including a few that hit close to home for some of the players: Kansas-Bucknell, Kansas-Bradley.

He asked the players: Why can't that be us? Why can't we pull the shocker?

The hope brought on by the rhetorical questions was quickly extinguished. The Thunder jumped all over the Lady Bobcats, winning 8-0, and ending BLHS's season.

It was a slightly closer game than when the two teams met on Friday. St. James won that game 11-1 at Stump Park.

"I'm not really that disappointed," Vincent said. "We played well. If you play well against a good team and it isn't enough, you can't be disappointed about that."

St. James returned its roster from a team that went to the state quarterfinals in 2007.

Vincent said his team had players in position to score, but a few letdowns cost them opportunities at goals.

St. James improved to 13-3-1 and advanced to play Mill Valley (13-3) on Thursday for the regional championship.

BLHS ended its season 8-9-1.

The Lady 'Cats had made the second round courtesy of a 3-0 shutout victory Monday over Bonner Springs. Carol Smith had the shutout and Jessica Smith scored two goals. Elissa Manford added the other goal for Basehor.

Although the victory over Bonner Springs wasn't particularly difficult, the going was considerably tougher the next night against a St. James squad that was loaded with superior talent and experience.

Despite the loss, Vincent was happy with the season.

"I think we were a much more complete team at the end of the season than we were at the beginning," he said. "We will now just continue to build the program."